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Why The GOP Is Holding A Midterm Convention
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A midterm convention for Republicans has basically never happened, so when the RNC sets one in Dallas and schedules it right against NFL opening games, the obvious question is: why do it at all? We walk through what the cameras might miss, including why limited national TV coverage may be less of a problem and more of a clue. If you’re expecting a classic convention with one big theme, you’re going to be surprised by what this format signals about modern campaigning.
We break down the strategy behind 109 speakers, dozens of rapid-fire topics, and a schedule that feels more like a content studio than a prime-time broadcast. The goal looks like building a massive library of short, reusable sound bites that can be targeted into battleground House and Senate races based on the issues voters actually care about, from tax relief and healthcare affordability to election integrity and border security. We also talk candidly about the convention’s fundraising engine and why raising money fast can matter as campaigns try to cut through noise and motivate turnout.
Then we zoom out to the bigger question of how Christians should evaluate candidates in a heated culture moment. We challenge the “he seems nice” standard and focus on policy outcomes, moral clarity, and stewardship at the ballot box. We close with a practical reminder that protects your vote: check your voter registration and keep your information current to avoid a provisional ballot and extra handling. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show and get equipped—what do you think the RNC’s real endgame is here?
Welcome And The Dallas Convention
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the Wall Boulder Show, taking all the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And today one of the hot topics is a midterm Republican convention, something that hasn't been done that I'm aware of. At least it sounds like it may have never been done. But it's happening in Dallas, Texas. And, you know, I forgot to even ask you guys. By the way, Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. I forgot to ask if you guys are going to the convention. Are y'all going to be in town and get to go to any of it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm definitely in town for it. I'll be over there both days to the convention, be speaking to several state delegations and doing some presentations for things over there. So definitely involved in it. And it's it's really, really interesting, Rick. There's three or four things that are going to happen in this convention that have never happened before. So it's going to be very interesting. And kind of like, why are you doing a midterm convention? And by the way, responding to what you just said, opening up Republicans and their what, 175-year history, whatever, have never done a midterm convention. This is the first for them. Democrats have done three back in the 70s, early 80s. They won two out of the three when they did it, but they just felt like it was a waste of time and money. So they quit doing it and haven't done one since 82. They thought about doing one this year with the Republicans doing it and said, no, we're not going to do that. So this is something very new, but there's some interesting, I think, motivations behind why Republicans are doing what they're doing with this. And there's some miscalculations, I think, as well, too. But we can get into that later.
Media Coverage And NFL Competition
SPEAKER_01Yes, okay, so it hasn't happened before. Um, you said there's some good things that'll come out of it. Well, I guess we could start with the the miscalculations. What are your concerns about it?
SPEAKER_00Well, the concerns about it are guess what? This is being broadcast. Well, I started to say it's being broadcast nationally, and it's not. Uh, there's actually only one network that is covering this thing from start to finish, and that's C-SPAN. So the there's CNN's gonna give it some coverage, and one other network's giving it some coverage, and Fox will give it some, but it's just not gonna get broadcast very, very far very well. And it's up against NFL games on Wednesday night and Thursday night. So the Republicans are having their convention uh both of those nights from 4 to 10 central time, and that's right in the heart of all that is the two opening season NFL games. And word was from reporters who checked into it that the White House was not aware of those games and didn't think about looking at those games when they set up the time. So they chose Dallas, chose the time, and got it all set, all announced, all moving, and oops, got some competition that we hadn't hadn't planned on. So I I think that's that's probably the downside to it, although you know, you certainly don't go around acknowledging we made a mistake. That's you know, politics means never having to say you're sorry.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let me let me just ask you about that. Is that is that a big deal? Because normally when you do the every four-year convention, you do have everybody's attention for a few nights, maybe not the whole week, but for those main, you know, last couple of nights where the president accepts the nomination, pretty much everybody's watching. Is that what you what you mean that we may not get that kind of coverage because of the um just uh competition for eyes on those nights?
SPEAKER_00Well, this is where it gets really interesting because it looks to me like they have taken a completely different tact and purpose for the convention.
A Convention With A New Purpose
SPEAKER_00Uh it's not going to be a convention like we're always used to. It's a convention that I think is being orchestrated to meet some very, very specific needs. And it's uh it's really, I think, very intriguing, and in many ways, I think it's very smart. I mean, all right, let's let's back off and say, what what do Republicans need most in this election? And the answer is they need to hold the midterm so they can keep the House, the Senate, so Trump is not a lame duck for the last two years. Which means your focus is going to be on House and Senate, and yet most of the House members that are have their seats that are we're gonna say really contested seats, they're not part of the program. There's a few, but most of those guys are not even going to be at the convention. They're gonna be back working their races, and they're not being featured particularly at the convention per se. So this can't be about trying to necessarily build those those names and get those names on national TV because national TV is not covered to speak of. So it's like they have rethought this thing. I think they're gonna be successful at what they're doing, but it is not your typical campaign. And if we approach it as saying, hey, here's another national convention of a national party, here's what we expect. We're not gonna get what we expect. I've got the schedule, I've got the list of all the speakers, all the things they're doing. This is quite intriguing to me. I think they're thinking outside the box in a way that that may help them get their goals, but not in the way that most people would assume that they were going to get there.
SPEAKER_02Now, Dad, I'm just curious, when you say you have the list of speakers, you literally know who every one of those speakers is. That's fascinating. Um, because I I definitely have some some curiosities of certain individuals if they're going to be speaking or not. Um I and I assume obviously this would be held close to the vest from those in charge. Um, but you know, thinking of guys like a Brandon Gill, thinking of some uh influencers and commentators of young leaders, um uh do you see them elevating any young leaders to help reach the rising generation who seem to be the ones most confused and misguided, and especially when that's the biggest voting block, do you see things going specifically like do you see names that are targeting those individuals?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes and no. And it's interesting you say that, Tim, because that is the logical thing. And when I look at this and analyze what they're doing, I don't think that's what they're trying to do. Um, and let me just let me throw it right out from the top. If you're gonna try to maintain, and we have looked, and we think there's about 40 to 45 house races that we'll call battleground within two or three points. There's 17 of them that we have, we show are tied neck and neck, and then there's another 20-something, 25 or so that are within three points. And a lot of those guys that we want to get elected are not even going to be part of it, they're not gonna give an opportunity
Fundraising Mechanics And Ticket Prices
SPEAKER_00to speak. But here's what I think is really intriguing, first off, is Trump is going to be there for both nights. He will close it out on Thursday night, he'll open it up on Wednesday night, and you can sit at Trump's table if you want to. It only costs you $250,000 to sit at a table with him. And by the way, if you want to get your picture made with Trump at the convention, it's only $65,000. This is a fundraiser. They're doing this to raise funds. And so they're they even the congressmen themselves were told that if you want to be at the convention, it's gonna cost you $25,000 to be at the convention. Now, wait a minute. We're trying to get you guys, yeah, we are trying to get you guys elected. You guys stay in your seats and and and work your districts. We'll go raise money for you in the meantime.
SPEAKER_02Well, dad, one of the things it seems like has to be a priority. Obviously, they need funds, that that's fine. But it they have to care about the voter turnout. And it does seem like coming to Texas is strategic. Because if if the idea is only money, I mean, certainly there's money in Texas. There's no doubt about that. But they could have gone to Florida, you know, a place where certainly there's also a lot of money. There's other states that have a lot of money that are very strong. It seems like coming to Texas might have been also a strategic move, recognizing there's a very significant election in the Senate over here with Talo Rico and Ken Paxton. And even yesterday, when I was speaking at a church, I talked to several people after service that came up and they were asking questions concerned that they have a lot of friends that are saying, hey, we like Talo Rico. In fact, my wife even talks about on her social media like there's people that frustrate her, she don't want to follow anymore or like be friends with because it's Christians who are proud about being Christians, they're proud about the churches they go to. And some of the churches don't seem like woke churches, but they are supporting someone that is rejecting basic biblical orthodoxy, that is promoting literal heresy. I mean, things the Bible talked about that warned you against people like this. When you're advocating the idea, James Tallerico, right, saying that Mary actually had the option to abort Jesus. She chose not to, but that's why we should be pro-choice because Mary could have aborted Jesus. And you're like, what kind of nonsense are you espousing? But the the reason it's been a challenging and fusing, unfortunately, for a lot of Christians, is a lot of Christians have been learning that some of the most important aspects of, you know, being a quote Christian are how nice you are to people. And so they're looking at candidates through the lens of who's a nice person. And that's who we want, not thinking critically or strategically about really, it's the policies that they're advocating. That's the most important thing. It's not who's a nicer person, it's who is advocating the policies that will encourage and promote more freedom, more stability, more prosperity. Well, what are going to be the things that are better for my kids, for the grandkids in the future, instead of well, this guy just seems like a nicer person. And and again, it's we've been taught a very broken scale that is not a biblical scale. That there are a lot, the Bible tells us there are going to be a lot of people that are very nice that end up in hell. Why? Because niceness is not what keeps you out of hell, it is the relationship with Jesus that keeps you out of hell. And by the way, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commands. So to also, there's a challenge as Christians that we should uphold a moral standard. We follow the teachings of Jesus, which is where the word Christian comes from, not to digress and me back up.
Texas Politics And Christian Confusion
SPEAKER_02The reason I think it's important that they're in Texas, and and again, I think there's lots of reasons you identify. This is certainly a fundraiser among many things. But I think there are people who are not in Texas who look at this uh race between James Tallerico and a very clearly strong conservative candidate, even though a very morally flawed one as well, Ken Paxton, and they're like, oh, Texas is red, right? We're not worried about Talo Rico at all. And the reality is the internal bullying in Texas shows this is way too close for several reasons. Partly because you have some very strong John Cornyn supporters. John Cornyn is a current senator who lost in the primary bid to Ken Paxton. There are current Republicans who say they will not vote for Ken Paxton because they don't like him and they support John Cornyn. So they're just going to sit this one out. There's a lot of Christians in Texas who are supporting James Tallerico because they don't understand maybe how to measure biblical morality, but also because they're also promoting an idea of we want the nicer candidate, not the one that promotes the better policies for our nation and for our kids, etc. So it does seem like part of the reason they're coming to Texas is to boost the voter turnout in Texas, because if Texas ends up becoming a purple and then at some point a blue state, it will change the fabric of the nation for generations, potentially. And so this idea of keeping Texas red is a real thing. So it does seem to me that that would be part of the reason why they might want to do this convention in Dallas as well.
SPEAKER_00Well,
109 Speakers Built For Sound Bites
SPEAKER_00that would seem logical, but it doesn't look like that on the list. When you look at the 109 speakers they've got, um, there are maybe seven from from Texas. I mean, you just going down the list, you got Governor Greg Abbott, you got Senator Ted Cruz, you've got Brandon Gill, as you mentioned, uh, you got the mayor of Dallas, Eric Johnson, you got Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, really good friend of Trump. Um, you have one nominee for the House down in South Texas in the Valley. I mean, as you go through the numbers, there's just not that many. And there's a number of these guys that are not planning to be here. They plan to stay, stay out working the race. And so as as I look down the list of speakers, it's not Texas heavy. Uh now, this is a good place for him for him to be for a number of reasons. Cost, expenses, um, police coverage here, Dallas as a Eric Johnson being the mayor of Dallas. I mean, there's a Republican mayor, and he may be the only Republican mayor in a city as large as Dallas in the entire nation, which may be one reason was easy to set up security here and police and everything else. And that may be part of the consideration. But the other thing is when I look at the now what they've got is they're going from four to ten each night. And each each of those nights, I have the list here of what they're doing each hour. And each hour, they're going to have three themes per hour. So that gives you what, 12 hours, that gives you 36 themes, 109 speakers for 36 themes, which means you're gonna about have about three people per section, maybe five to six minutes of section. It's like little cameos almost. But when I look down at what they are covering, there is almost no repetition of topics. Uh starting off, you're you're looking at working family tax relief and then rooting out waste and fraud and then healthcare affordability. Then the next hour you go to policy contract. And by the way, this this whole list is on the RNC website. That this is out there. Uh, if you're a delegate to the convention, the delegates have already been given this. We know what's happening, we know the speakers, we know the topics. And and there is when I look at those number topics, they're so unrelated to each other that what it tells me is since the national media is not going to cover the convention, they plan to take all of these little speeches and make them into sound bites and spread them all over the web sphere everywhere. They're going to take any theme you want to talk about and they will have sound bites on that, and they're just going to inundate that depending on what's in the races. So if they're in a congressional race that's all about election integrity, they'll have some great sound bites. If there's one that's about health care, they'll have great sound bites. I think they are generating uh uh a massive amount of sound bites in a you know essentially 109 different areas with 109 different speakers. And I think the other thing, that's the other thing they'll do, because this is not like a normal convention where you have a theme and you stick to the theme. This thing is scattered all over the world, but I think that because they're not having national coverage to broadcast so like you you you normally do, that they plan to take this and spread it around themselves and let all the candidates use it.
SPEAKER_01So we may be we may see a lot more after the convention than like we normally would during the convention from what
Break And How To Share
SPEAKER_01you're saying. Let's take a quick break, guys. We'll be right back. Hey friends, Rick Green for the Wall Boulder Show. Encouraging you to share the program with friends and family and listen to it on the podcasts that are out there. There's so many options out there for you to listen to in the car or from home or while you're working out. You've got Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Castbox. I mean, there's so many options. And we just want to make sure you know we've worked hard to get it out there and make it available for you on all those different apps. Everybody's got their favorite app, so choose your particular app. And if it's not on there yet, email us, radio at wallbuilders.com, and let us know about your favorite podcast app, and we'll make sure WallBulder's Radio is listed there. But you can listen and most importantly, share it with your friends and family. That's how the program grows. That's how we get more truth in the hands of as many people as possible. And then, of course, wallbuilders.show, super easy place uh to find all of those podcast apps and to just download right there from that website as well as be able to share it with your friends and family. So check it out today, wallboarders.show, or just go directly to your favorite podcast app, listen to the Wabble Show and share it with as many people as you possibly can. Welcome back to the Wallboarder
Turnout Messaging And Party Differences
SPEAKER_01Show. Thanks for staying with us talking about the first ever Republican midterm convention. Uh, one thing I wanted to jump on, Tim, you were saying earlier, you thought it might really be about turnout. I could I couldn't agree more as far as you know, just trying to keep the base engaged and remind people what Republicans stand for versus Democrats. And David, I think that's maybe what the point of having all those different topics is, and then, you know, be being able to zero in, as you're saying, on specific districts where certain topics are most popular to them. Um, I I will say, you know, uh, Tim, you were talking about the the Talo Rico, Talofrico versus cruise race and just how many Christians, how many Republicans are saying, well, but he's nice, so I'm gonna support him. I I I I was just in Colorado and we were at a dinner, and it was the biggest Republican county in the state, and I was doing the uh Bill Feder and I were ketoing the dinner, and it was getting really late by the time it was getting to me. I was the last speaker. And so right before I went up, I leaned over to Kara my wife and said, I got all this stuff bouncing around in my head I want to say, so pray for clarity. And she said, All I'll say is keep it simple. And so as I walked up there and everybody was half asleep because the auctioneer uh was right before me and he was terrible and put everybody to sleep. And so I just got up there and said, How many people in this room are for the mutilation of children? Nobody raised their hand. I said, How many of you think it's okay to kill a baby five minutes before the baby would have been born? Nobody raised their hand. How many of you think it's okay to stop ICE from being able to arrest and deport rapists and murderers and thugs and and and went down the list of what the Democrats are for and what and and and then said, you know, to not get on board and support the Republican candidates, if you're not for any of those things, you're helping all of those things by helping the Democrats, by not helping the Republicans. But to your point, Tim, it's not just in Texas. It's it's it's unbelievable to me that Republicans would sit out the race out of being hurt feelings because their candidate didn't win or whatever the excuse is. Um it's just insane when you think about these Democrats Socialists of America and just how left the Democrats have gone. So I do think that's one of the main reasons for the convention as well, is to highlight the difference between Republicans and Democrats since so many people we hear it all the time. There's no difference, it's a uniparty, blah, blah, blah. We know that's not the case, and we get frustrated with our Republican friends all the time for not doing as much as we think they should. But boy, is there ever a difference. And I hope the convention highlights that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and one of the things too, Rick, I would point out is this is not really Republicans against Democrats. In the conversation that we're having now, when it comes to right, who's advocating for protecting girls and their locker rooms and their bathrooms and sports, like all the things you just said, right, protecting their bodies from mutilation, from this propaganda, nonsense doctors, etc. I'm not advocating for this as a Republican. I'm advocating for it as a Christian. As a Christian. Again, like it's not about do you support Republicans or Democrats? No, no, it's the policies. As a Christian, this is not how can Republicans sit back? No, how can Christians sit back? If you are a Christian, you cannot sit back and watch people that are gonna advocate and and and literally their side is furthering this evil. So this isn't about uh, you know, us promoting Republicans. No, no, this is this is Christians saying we have to promote godliness and and biblical principles and policies. And right now, the party who is upholding that standard the most are Republicans. The reason as a Christian that I think you should support a Republican is because right now their policies more closely align with biblical principles. And this is where somebody in the Democrat side who professes Christianity might say, yeah, but look at the poor and needy. And then, like, that's really the only thing you can advocate for in your own mind and my perspective from the Democrat side. And I would point out that if you read your Bible, the poor and needy was never the government's job. It was a job of the family and the church. So literally, the only thing that you're really able to advocate for from a biblical idea perspective is something that's not even the role of the government. Again, all of this to say that my encouragement and challenge is to Christians, you need to recognize you have a stewardship responsibility. And
Voter Registration And Ballot Risk
SPEAKER_02Dad, actually, you and I were talking not long ago, and you were saying also something that's really, really important, as all of us on this program, we believe in voter integrity, we support voter ID, like the very common sense positions that the majority of Americans support. But dad, you pointed out, like even in Texas, it's crazy how many people have wrong voter information, like incorrect, because they've moved or gotten married or whatever else. And so, in the midst of us advocating, we want to have secure elections, we want to have integrity and elections, voter ID. Uh, you you were pointing out, man, we need to encourage people, make sure, like, check your voter registration status, make sure it's up to date. Because in Texas, easy example, if you go to vote and and you have the wrong address on your ID, you can still vote. You'll vote provisionally, they'll check it, you'll probably be fine. But we want to we want to encourage people and dad, let me just toss to you. Um, so that you can give clarity to this and run with it. But but why does it matter that people check maybe their their voter registration status, their their address, et cetera? Why does that matter?
SPEAKER_00Well, if you check it and make sure you're you're good, then your your ballot is not pulled as a provisional, it's not pulled for extra attention. It's not the m the more it gets handled, the more possibility there is of something happening to it, either intentional or accidental. And so I think the number we had looked at, Tim, was I think 2.3 million Texans have incorrect information on their voter uh registration right now. They've moved and didn't think about it, didn't think about updating it or checking it. So there's about 2.3 million in Texas, but this is the way it is all over the nation. We're just such a mobile population now, and we move so often, do so many things. The more opportunity you give for the handle or set aside as provisional or have to check it and double check it, the more opportunity you have for something happening to it. You just wanted to go straight in the machine, let the machine do it. And we have more election integrity now than we've had in several elections. Um President Trump even has been able to get several things through the courts. There's been a couple struck down in the last week through the through the Postal Service. But still, we're so far ahead of where we were two years ago, four years ago, and six years ago. Um so it's Tim, to your point, this is something. Check your voter registration, check, make sure you're current and up to date, make sure you haven't forgotten something or left something off, because then you've got a much safer ballot as it goes when you cast it on election night.
What Success Looks Like After Dallas
SPEAKER_01So, David, uh, what do you hope happens from the convention? I mean, based on what you see as we go into it, um, what what do you what are you kind of hoping that we get out of it? I mean, you're gonna be talking to several groups. What's the goal?
SPEAKER_00Uh I I think what's gonna happen is you will come out with a lot of people motivated and activated. I don't think that's a question. I think people will be impressed with the quantity of things that have been done by this administration. Typically, we you know, we always said a messaging, just find two or three issues in your campaign and stick on those. I think they are breaking that to pieces this time, and I think it'll be for for good use because I think they will customize the message for what the districts need, which will be very helpful. So I think we'll see a lot of energy come out of it. I think that extra money will help in a lot of races to cut through the Talo Rico kind of nonsense. Um, there are some ads being cut right now on how crazy, Tim, as you said, that the Angel Gabriel came to Mary and asked her if she wanted to do an abortion. Really? What what Bible are you not reading to come? It's just, it's crazy. So that's some stuff that people are looking at, putting money into, starting to get that out there. And that's where I think it can help. So I I think this could be a very positive midterm, despite the fact that it's so radically different from all the previous midterms, uh, all the previous conventions. No midterms for Republicans, but all the previous conventions is so different.
SPEAKER_01Tim, what do you think are the kind of the some of the key messages we need to take from the convention, all these speeches that we can communicate to voters, especially those younger voters, like you were talking about earlier?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think there will be several uh new thoughts that probably I'll hear somebody and go, that's a great point. We need to talk about that more. But ultimately, I think it's helping the next generation understand that we're not looking for the most likable candidate. We're looking for what policies advance freedom and prosperity the most because most young people are living in what they would consider an affordability crisis. Gas is high, groceries right. They can't afford to buy a house. And part of the question is okay, do you think that the government will make better decisions for you than you could? Right. That like this this old ad is the 2030 plan that was promoted, this idea that you will own nothing and you will like it. Do you want to be in a place in your life when you own nothing, when somebody can come and take away what you have? They can choose where you go and how you do. And I know some people have grown up with parents that actually did this for them. And they're like, yes, I think there's a portion of the generation that feels that way. But I think in my mind, one of the things we have to help advocate and and help people wrap their mind around is we're looking for what are the best policies for our families, for our pocketbooks, for our sons and daughters, and who is advocating the best policies. And we have to start thinking a little longer term, stage two, not just stage one thinking, not how does this make me feel, but what is good, what is true, what is right. And I'm sure there'll be lots of fun sound bites that we will see later this week from the convention.
SPEAKER_01Looking forward to it. We may even play some of them right here on the program to help with understanding the message that is coming out and understanding what's at stake in the November elections. Thanks so much for listening, everyone. You've been listening to the Wallpeller Show.
